Las Palomas Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Austin

Went to have lunch with my family. We arrived shortly after they opened and therefore we were one of maybe 4 tables in the whole place. We had heard good things about the restaurant and decided to ignore the bad reviews. The reason for two stars is because of the following: • the tables for 4 are ridiculously small - with two adults & two toddlers, there was not much if any room for all the plates and drinks. • the food took a very long time to arrive. We weren’t sure why since there weren’t many other patrons dining. • the server was not very attentive • when our food finally arrived, we were trying to make room on the small table. The server placed a scalding hot fajitas plate on the table, within in reach of our 1 year old. While she and my husband tried to make room, I was trying to keep my 1 year old from touching the hot plate. Unfortunately she is quick and in no time her hand went straight into the scalding hot refried beans. I now have a minor burn from the beans hitting my hand as I was grabbing my 1 year old to help her. My 1 year old also has some minor burns on her hand. Another sweet patron nearby came to help, a guy from the kitchen came rushing out with ice. Fortunately for the restaurant we had already paid (bc the food took too long and we had to get going quickly). Had we not paid already I would have liked something comped or even yet everything comped. No apologies or offers of anything. They boxed up our food (which took forever) and we left. My husband realized he left the credit card after we were gone and went back to get it. Still no apologies. Finally tried the food when we got home. While not terrible, it’s not in our opinion up to par with other Mexican restaurants. We might try again without our toddlers. But still annoyed there were no formal apologies or offers to help alleviate the stress and pain my 1 year old experienced. • the place needs bigger tables and quicker service.

UPDATE PER REPLY FROM OWNER The waitress did not walk away. She was right there attempting to try and reorganize the plates on the small table with my husband. If you the owner had apologized I did not hear it over the cries of my 16 month old daughter. Yes the waitress said the plate was hot. Yet she still placed it in front of my 16 month old. When I was a waitress I knew to never place scalding hot plates in front of babies/young toddlers. I would have placed it on an empty table nearby, while I helped make room on the small table. Yes you did offer ointment and I did reply no thank you she puts her hands in her mouth. That would not be safe for a 16 month old. This was my honest review on my own personal experience. Again to reiterate, the waitress did not set the scalding plate down and leave. The child was my 16 month old and I did say I was trying to keep her from touching it, but being a baby, she is quick and as I was also simultaneously trying to make room on the small table, she reached for the scalding plate. And again, if you did apologize I didn’t hear it nor...

Walked in with my family and shown to a table by the host. He just kind of threw the menu books on the table instead of handing them to us and walked away. That's when the clueless running of a restaurant started. 10 minutes of sitting there later no one came to welcome us or ask us for beverage order. The other waitress at the near by table looked at us sitting there a few times but I guess it “wasn't her table” and no initiative or sense to get someone. Finally after just sitting there for awhile unattended we decided to get up and leave. This was the point I understood how the standards for this Westlake restaurant had dropped so low. What looked like the owner was now standing in the front talking to the host who sat us and ran off. I told him what had happened and he looked at me clueless said sorry and then just let us leave. Poor employee derive/behavior and protocols are always a reflection in leadership and this final interaction explained why this restaurant has fallen in service the way it has. anyone in the service industry with any experience or clue would have explained they were the leadership there, introduced themselves, and apologized and then lead us to a table and made it right. that actually would’ve turned a poor experience into an exceptional experience and One . We would’ve told others about because it’s just about effort and making things right as anyone can have a blip in service and make a mistake. Just clueless and for that, we will not be returning and telling others to...

This place is good and has some pleasant surprises. The chips are good enough to eat on their own but their salsa needs work. It's not that it's bad it's just that it needs more flavor and spice to make it exciting. They have a Chipotle sauce which I was using with the chips which was spot on.

The empanadas here are a must and a common theme for the restaurant. The crust is flaky and light which is exactly what you are looking for here and the meat is moist and delicious. If this was the only thing on the menu I would be plenty happy.

The fajitas though tell a different story which brings me to my main issue with this place. The meat marinade for the fajitas was not typical of TexMex fajitas. It is more closely resembles the sauce in cochinita pibil. They do give you pico, cheese and guac on side which was a plus and very welcome.

The refried beans were good but the white rice was very very good and quite impressive.

This is an expert friendly restaurant which means you need to know what's good on the menu before ordering and keeps getting better the more often you go. I also think the classification is wrong. The empanadas are more Argentinian and the sauce they use more Mexican.

Any road this is a nice place and am happy I was able...